Human Dharma for daily life

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One of the key messages of Lord Krishna in Gita is the role of Dharma in

human life. The very first verse in Bhagavad Gita starts with the word

"Dharmaksetre." This reference is applicable to the entire universe

where the laws are determined by the nature. All living and non-living

beings of the universe are obligated to follow the Dharma. Dharma

means duty or pursuit of social and personal ideals of behavior. Its

literal meaning is "that which sustains." Every thing that goes with the

natural order or state of things is dharma. The dharma of fire is to

heat, dharma of a flower is to bloom and dharma of a human is to "be

happy without disturbing happiness of others."

Two Dharmic rules are stated for human behavior by Yogi Ramacharaka in

the book "Advance Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism"

 

". . . Now this idea of Dharma - this knowledge that " right " and "

wrong" are relative and changeable, instead of absolute and fixed, does

not give anyone an excuse for doing anything "bad" or "wrong" that he

would not have done under the old idea. On the contrary, Dharma holds

one up to his highest conception of "right", and expects him to do what

seems "right" for rights sake, and not because the law compels him to do

so - it expects right-action from him, even though the law has not as

yet reached so high a stage. It teaches him that if he sees a thing to

be "wrong," it is wrong for him even though the law and public opinion

have not yet reached so high a standard of ethics. The advanced man will

always be a little ahead of the average conception -- never behind it...

 

. . . And another rule of Dharma is to refrain from criticizing or

condemning the Dharma of another man less developed than yourself. He is

not looking through your eyes. He may be living nearer to his spiritual

ideal than your are to yours -- how dare you judge him? Are you so near

perfect that you set your standard up as absolute? . .

 

 

Ram Chandran

Burke, VA